Improved clothes-line clamp



PATENT OEEIoE.

OHAS. W.'HOVVARD, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED CLOTH ES- LINE CLAMP.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,419, dated October 2, 1866.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. HOWARD, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Device for Supporting Clothes-Lines 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being also, that the greater the strain upon the linel y the more securely will it be held by the device, whereby not only a perfectly reliable fastening for the line is provided, but greater facility afforded in putting up and taking down the line. y

The drawing represents both a front and a side view of the device, fixed to the supportingposts and the line applied, like letters of reference indicating the same parts when in both views. In either, therefore, Ais the bent lever 5 B, the hooked plate, 0,'the post, and J) the clothes-line.

The plate B has two hooks, the one, bl, projecting upward, the other, b2, downward, from respective arms 113,114, which extend forward h alt' an inch, more or less, from the ends of the plate B, as shown in the drawing. The middle or flat portion of the said plate B is permanently secured, by means of the screws c c', to the side of the upper end of the post O.

The lever A is a iiat bar, which is secured so that it can be easilyT vibrated on the plate B by means of one of the screws e', which passes through it and forms its fnlcrum-pin.

The shorter end of the lever A has an arm, al, which projects forward so that its one side can be brought into contact with the inner corner edge of the arm b1. The longer or power end of the leverAhas also an arm, a2, which projects forward and is turned upward at its end a?, and leaves a spaceof an inch, more or less, between it and the projection b2 when the shorter end al of the lever is in contact with the` projection b3.

rlhe clothes-line D is applied by passing its end d downward between a1 and D32, and then carrying the line'acrossA over the arm b3, then down under the arm al and over the arm a2 of the lever A, and drawing the latter downward thereby, so as to cause the arm al to pinch the line D between al and b3, and, finally, stretching the line D tightly across under the arm b4,

and carrying it to the next post C1, and securing it tightly by passing it across over the afm b, and then down between a1 and b3, and closing the arm a1 of the lever A against it, thus causing the tensional strain of the said stretched portion ofthe line to keep the lever closed on it so as to retain it, as shown in the drawings. The free portion of the line may be now passed over the power end of the lever just,l closed,

-and then. under the arm b4 to the next post,

and so on for the rest ofthe line. 4

It will be seen that the more the line D is loaded or stretched the tighter it will be held by the device; that each section so strained will be retained independently of any other section; and that the line can be put up or taken down with greater facility and rapidity than heretofore-a matter of considerable iinportance in cold or winter weather.

Having thus fully described my invention and shown its utility, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is;

A device for supporting a clothes-line, consisting of the pieces A and B, or their equivalents, constructed and combined to operate together so as to pinch and hold the line by the tensional strain of the latter, substantially as described and set forth. l

O. W. HOWARD. Witnesses:

BENJ. MoRIsoN, WM. H. MoRIsoN. 

